Falling For Them: A New Adult Reverse Harem Collection

by C. L. Stone

  The jar around my heart crumbled at hearing them speak up for me. This had been my fault. Ryuu especially had no hand in this. I felt he was promising things he’d regret.

  Neither had a reason to be so nice to me, and yet they continued to be kind. It confused me in so many ways.

  “Your team is small right now,” Mrs. Satsu said, rising away from me to stand tall. “But you’ve chosen wisely to trust in them. Keep this up, and you’ll be unstoppable.” She turned away from me and left the room, closing the door to give us privacy.

  I fell to my side, tears flowing from my eyes. The harder I tried to gain control of myself, the harder it was to stop the crying. Part of it might not have been the kimono, but the stress that had piled onto my shoulders since a I learned about the registration.

  A few days into preparing for that day, and I had already made enemies, and there would be more in the future as we proceeded.

  Would there be even more in the Immortal City where a wrong move meant my head, or worse?

  Maybe this had all been a mistake. Every part of me ached, thinking of home. Thinking of my parents.

  I should have been with them on the ship.

  A strong pair of arms lifted me suddenly off the ground. Without words, Ryuu carried me out of the tatami room.

  “Get a tub,” Ryuu said to Sota as he carried me down the hall. “One as big as she is. Bring it to our room.”

  Sota didn’t stop to ask. He simply walked away.

  Ryuu brought me to our room, closing the door behind us.

  I didn’t have the energy to tell him to put me down. I let him carry me. He kicked the futon out of the middle of the room, creating some space, and then lowered, kneeling on the ground with me, and waited.

  He cradled me and hummed another folk song from our village. The Taka perked up, hearing the tune and sang along.

  It was enough to get me to stop crying, but my misery continued. Could I have ignored what I’d heard? Should I have confronted whoever it was myself instead of sending Sota to the authorities with a letter? What if I was wrong and it had been a set up and I’d fallen for it, when it was another student trying to sabotage the others? If that was the case, what else would they do if I stayed?

  Sota returned with one of the maids, carrying a large wooden tub. He put it in the center of the room. “We should probably do this downstairs.”

  “No, here is fine,” Ryuu said. He placed me on the futon and then rose to stand near the tub, looking inside it. “Sota, go get those salts and other things from the bathhouse.” He motioned to the maid with a wave of his hand and then snapped at her like I’d seen Mrs. Satsu do. He spoke with power and authority. “Bring me a bucket of water to wash her, and then fill the tub with hot water.”

  Instantly they moved, and Ryuu scooted the tub on his own to sit next to the window, shifting the table away to make room.

  When he was finished, we waited while the maids brought buckets of water upstairs, and when the tub was filled, they brought him one of the buckets filled with water.

  Sota returned with a crate filled with paper packages. He shooed the maids out, and rolled the door closed.

  “We could have just taken her to the bathhouse,” Sota said.

  “Isn’t this how all this trouble started?” Ryuu asked.

  I sat up quickly. “You shouldn’t blame the bathhouse.”

  “I know you’ve been as pale as snow since you left the bathhouse.” He dipped a cloth into the warm bucket of water, and adjusted me until he could take hold of my feet and scrub. He did it roughly and then scratched his forehead. “I’m probably not very good at this.”

  Sota came forward, and told Ryuu to put me on the floor. I gave Sota my feet, and he washed them for me.

  Like at the bathhouse, Sota was quiet and remained focused on my body, washing. This time though, he did a light massage of my muscles as he went.

  “I don’t see how this helps,” I said, disheartened they were working on me when I felt so low and helpless.

  “My mother once told me the key to confidence is comfort,” Ryuu said. He moved to lie on the futon, giving me some mild privacy by staring at the ceiling. “Once you become comfortable, you’ll find the confidence you’ll need to win this.”

  “You place this all on me,” I said. “You will win a position before I ever do.”

  “No one is tainting my kimono with stink,” he said. “They don’t see me as competition and I don’t blame them. I was never serious from the start.”

  “I’m nowhere near ready,” I said.

  “You will be,” Sota said. He scrubbed at my knees and thighs, focused on his task. He rinsed my skin.

  I felt their confidence in me was misplaced.

  But perhaps I wasn’t trying hard enough. Was I giving the effort they were showing me now? Apricot said I could have become a wife of the emperor if I had applied. Mrs. Satsu had brought me so many miles to the capital, picking me out of many other girls. Sota and Ryuu were placing their bets on me, joining me on this journey.

  And what Ryuu said struck me. He hadn’t been targeted. He wasn’t considered a threat.

  Someone thought I was.

  Sota took his time washing my body, and preparing the warm bath with more salts, and scented oils and creams. This time the water was a light blue.

  When I got in, I relaxed, looking out toward the city. Sota and Ryuu remained nearby in the room, allowing me to soak.

  I thought about what was ahead of us. I wanted to make sure Mrs. Satsu was repaid for the kimono. I wanted to show Ryuu and Sota I was worthy of their trust in me.

  Maybe nothing would happen. What was the worst? Ryuu said if we both failed, he thought it would be good to team up and trade together. I wondered what Sota would choose to do.

  Every day they showed me kindness. I had to remember that not all people were deceitful.

  No wonder the emperor was desperate to find good people, and why the registration and inspection were so important.

  If I were him, I’d want people I could trust around me, too.

  I relaxed in the tub, listening to the sound of the wall of dragon stone slithering on itself in the distance, wondering what lay beyond it.

  8

  ROYAL

  Over the next week, Ryuu and Sota confined me to my room.

  “You can’t do any damage, and no one can say you did them harm if it appears you’ve retreated,” Sota said.

  I didn’t argue this point, and spent more and more time looking out the window at the city. It made me feel safe knowing they were looking out for me, and that gave me confidence like Ryuu had promised.

  Ryuu continued to read books, and picked up what he could about the royal court and politics local and abroad. Sota had me focus on how to walk while wearing a kimono in the high-soled wooden sandals. I also practiced bowing, learning how low to bow depending on rank.

  Apricot came by and gave me a lesson on how to flutter my eyelashes, how to hold my hand to look like butterflies instead of spiders, and how to lean in and whisper in an ear without touching, among other lessons on how to flirt without going overboard.

  “How is this all important?” I dared ask her after I moved my hands how she showed me, tucking in my thumb and separating my index and pinkie fingers from my middle and ring, a pose I had to learn to accept something into my palm. “Shouldn’t I be taught politics, too?”

  “You can’t be expected to learn everything in a few weeks,” Apricot said. “You’ll have Sota and Ryuu to inform you in conversation as you go. The important part is to look like royalty. If you are chosen, you’ll be representing His Majesty in your new position.”

  I sighed, slumping where I stood for a moment. The longer we went on, the more I wished I knew the position I was applying for.

  Apricot came forward. She was fully dressed in a delicate orange silk kimono, and her face painted, her hair done perfectly, along with a ribbon tied to her neck. “Look at me, Mizuki.”

&
nbsp; I faced her, but lowered my eyes, like I should when addressing someone of her rank.

  “I mean look at my face,” she said. “Look.”

  I did. Her delicate features were exquisite. Her poised red lips were puckered like she were kissing the air. She tucked her hands into the sleeves. She was as perfect as the canvases of art hanging around Mrs. Satsu’s home.

  “You’re beautiful,” I said.

  “And I’m respected.” She positioned her hands in different ways like I had been practicing. “You’ll learn, Mizuki, that I am not that different from you.”

  I gasped at her to say such a thing. She’d grown up in such different conditions, and I was so out of place next to her.

  “You are well-educated and do not shatter at the thought of doing a thing for yourself. Other girls are spoiled, demanding, belittling others. They will create more enemies than friends. The only way you can gain control over the pettiness is to rise above it. And you can do that by looking the part.”

  “You can’t dress a cow and expect it to be a swan,” I said.

  “I expect to dress you as royalty,” she said in a tone that told me I better not suggest any differently. “I expect you act the part, despite your own feelings. Do you think this will be easy for me to be an empress, if I’m selected?”

  “You should be chosen,” I said. “I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t be.”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever feel like an empress,” she said. “But I will behave as if I am one, and my subjects will treat me like one. I will be seen as I’m acting, not how I’m feeling.”

  I pressed my lips together, sizing up her advice. I didn’t need to feel like I fit in. I just needed to be good enough at pretending, and others will accept it.

  I straightened my posture, and held my hands at my sides like royalty.

  9

  WALL

  One evening, three days before we would register, Sota finally allowed Ryuu and me out into the streets of Kuni.

  “There’s a festival tonight,” he said. “Everyone else will be attending it outside the city. The streets will be clear. It’s a good time to take a walk. I think we need it.”

  Over the weeks we worked together, I’d gained weight in my breasts and hips. The meals he fed me fattened me a little, giving me some shape to my previously bony body. Yet sitting in the room all day, I was feeling lazy.

  Tonight, he told the maids to bring makeup and one of the kimono from the store room.

  “You need real practice,” he said.

  Unfortunately, the kimono that had been removed were unfixable, the smell had stayed and couldn’t be covered with perfumes. Apricot loaned me two of hers, one to wear to practice, and one to wear to inspection.

  I was nervous even wearing the practice kimono. I felt I could ruin it just by looking at it.

  Sota dressed me in an under-kimono lining, and tied a little padding to my frame for the kimono to sit correctly on my body.

  Once those were in place, he worked some magic on my face with makeup much like Apricot had shown me how to do.

  Soon, my face disappeared, and in the mirror, I was like a doll, like Apricot. I wasn’t myself.

  And in a way, that mask gave me the comfort and confidence to lift my head and be tall and poised like I was supposed to.

  Sota dressed me in the second kimono layer, a plum purple silk with gold dragons dancing across it, much like the wall. The obi was a rich hunter green.

  He did my hair, and drenched my wrists in bracelets. He hung ornaments from my hair.

  As a final touch, he draped a red ribbon around my neck.

  When I was finished, I turned on delicate shoes, and did a small walk around the room. I didn’t think I was as graceful as Apricot, but Sota and Ryuu both seemed impressed.

  “I can’t even tell it’s you,” Ryuu said, his mouth hanging open.

  Sota beamed. “Get used to it,” he said. “This is what she’ll look like every day in the near future.”

  His confidence in me made my cheeks heat. I was grateful for the makeup that hid this.

  It took some practice to get down the steps to the main floor so we could take our walk. Ryuu assisted by holding my hand.

  Once we were out in the open air, the breeze felt divine on my skin under the silk kimono. It was just right to electrify my senses. I was eager to see the city.

  Sota and Ryuu walked with me. Ryuu was in a man’s dark blue silk kimono, dressed refined, but without makeup. Sota was wearing his regular kimono top and had his leather pants and boots.

  He walked behind Ryuu and me as we walked down the street. I thought this was odd, and told him so.

  “It’s my place,” Sota said.

  “It’s weird,” I said.

  “Even I have to agree,” Ryuu said. Ever since I’d broken down after the kimono had been destroyed, they’d stopped bickering as much. I wasn’t sure if they agreed to disagree or if they’d resigned from doing so in front of me. “I feel like you’re watching us.”

  “I am.”

  Ryuu grunted.

  “Don’t do that,” Sota said.

  The streets were mostly clear, as almost everyone was at the festival. We could hear the rush of people enjoying displays of magic, music and dancing, even if they were blocks away. The music followed us, flutes and drums carrying over the night air.

  “One day you’ll go to a festival,” Sota said behind me as we passed behind another house to walk in its alley.

  “We could go now,” Ryuu said.

  “Not tonight. We don’t want to run any risks. We don’t need any more trouble now.”

  I agreed with him. We were so close to the date when Mrs. Satsu said we should register. “One day,” I said.

  Eventually, we found ourselves close to the wall. The closer we got, the louder the sound of stone grinding against stone became as the dragons slithered against each other.

  To my surprise, the rows of homes ended after another block. Surrounding the wall was an elegant garden, with ponds and pathways and lush green grass and trees.

  I hadn’t realized how I had missed grass and trees until I saw it. It was a spot of calm amid the busy city. Even the loudness of the wall didn’t bother me.

  “Why is this here?” Ryuu asked.

  “It’s too loud to live here,” Sota said. “So space was made for gardens.”

  “I think it’s lovely,” I said. “You don’t have to walk too far to enjoy it.”

  We took paths around the gardens, enjoying the stillness of ponds. I dreamt of being able to walk barefoot in the grass again, but wouldn’t dare now. It was good enough to me that I could enjoy this little bit of peace.

  The Taka appeared, surprising me by fluttering up next to me, and then landing on my shoulder.

  My happiness filtered through my lips, and I hummed to it, the same folk song I’d sung to him before.

  He whistled the tune to me in return, and then repeated it.

  I started to sing the words:

  To have nothing is to have no distress.

  To have nothing is to have every path before us.

  To have nothing is how we all end up.

  I paused before singing the next line when a loud humming began.

  Too loud to be the bird.

  Too loud to be the guys.

  It was a single hum, deep like the grinding of the stone at the wall, yet it reverberated through me to my heart.

  It hummed the same song.

  It sang the same lines I did.

  I stood, staring at the dragon wall, mouth agape. It was coming from the dragons. One of them was singing.

  The singing stopped. The bird hummed, but that was it.

  The boys looked to me, with questions in their eyes.

  “Why did you stop?” Sota asked. “It was a lovely tune.”

  “Did you hear that?” I asked. I pointed to the wall. “It was singing.”

  “I only hear the constant grind,” Ryuu said, and stuck a
finger in his ear to rub it. “It’s making my ears ring.”

  “But the dragon sang,” I said. “One of them did. It was so loud.”

  Sota and Ryuu looked at each other with puzzlement scrunching their eyebrows.

  “I think you’re more tired than you think,” Sota said. “It might be time to head back.”

  I couldn’t believe they didn’t hear it, and suddenly wondered if Sota was right. I questioned my own sanity.

  The wall can’t sing. The dragons were magic, but they didn’t talk.

  I turned away from it, and the Taka rested on my shoulder as we walked home.

  10

  REGISTRY

  A few days later, I was dressed in the practice kimono, without makeup.

  Mrs. Satsu had finally given us permission to head to the registry office.

  “Once you pass the initial registration, I’ll be down there this evening to apply my seal,” she said. “This will make it known to the overseers and to the emperor that you are one of mine.”

  Out of the other girls and boys under her wing, she made her selections. We were not told who.

  “You’ll find out at the end,” she said.

  This made me nervous. No one else had dropped out or had been eliminated after the first had been kicked out. I barely knew the other girls. I’d only ever spoken to Apricot.

  None had approached me, either. While some had gained a few friends as additional companions, they didn’t bother talking to one another. Glares flashed each time they crossed paths with anyone else.

  It was a shame, perhaps, but I wondered if they felt like me: too afraid to make enemies.

  The registration office was the largest red wood building closest to the wall. Sota took us the long way around to avoid too many people seeing us. We wanted to avoid anyone trying to stop competition.

  Ryuu walked with us, and kept rubbing his hands together. “I’m so nervous,” he said. “It’s like my first time negotiating with someone from another country. I’m worried I’ll offend someone just by looking at them for too long, or coughing.”

  “Don’t cough,” Sota said.